


is it you (writing letters to a stranger?)

by yallbitter



Series: Words on paper skin [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, POV Sokka (Avatar), Soulmates, Writing on Skin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:29:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25617397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yallbitter/pseuds/yallbitter
Summary: Writing on your skin also appears on your soulmate. Here's 5 times Sokka gets a response, and 1 time he doesn't need one.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Words on paper skin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028257
Comments: 21
Kudos: 548





	is it you (writing letters to a stranger?)

The first message appeared on Sokka’s skin when he was 10.

It was simple, a basic ‘hello’ written in a neat, well-practiced hand. He’d been so exited that he’d run around showing everyone in the village, asking for ideas for responses, and doing cartwheels in the snow.

Eventually he wrote back with a similar response, saying hi.

There was a couple of hours that he spent staring at his arm, waiting for answer. He never got one, not that night, or the next, or the one after that.

He stopped looking every few seconds after 3 days, 10-year-old boys only have so much patience, after all, and he gave up on waiting after that. Of course, he still wrote notes on his arms.

He never expected a response again, but it was nice to know that someone somewhere could see his messages, regardless.

* * *

The second message, 2 years later, was different. It was longer, and reading it made Sokka’s heart ache.

_Stop writing to me. I can’t cover them all the time. Please._

His soulmate covered his messages? His soulmate didn’t want him to write them anymore?

Sokka was tempted to ignore it and keep writing, but something in the slightly scrawled note, the addition of the please at the end gave him pause.

Maybe he ought to stop writing them.

Well, two can play at that game, he thinks, in his young mind. For the first time, Sokka wraps his arms in cloth, under his soft gloves. He tells everyone that it’s so he can avoid further injury from his boomerang-since he was still learning to catch it correctly. Nobody is any the wiser, and the messages stop.

* * *

When Suki asks him if he’s ever got a note, he lies. He tells her no, that he’s never got one, he never even wrote one. With a smile she tells him the same.

The kiss she gives him feels wrong, and his lie burns on his lips.

That night he unwraps his arms, and for the first time in a long time, picks up a brush and writes.

_Hello. It’s been a while._

He doesn’t expect anything, but it’s worth a try, right? He can’t let Katara or Aang see. They realised that they were soulmates quickly, Katara’s many scribbles on Aang’s skin from the day they found him. As far as Katara knows, he got one message, no response, and essentially has no soulmate. He’d like to keep it that way, for now.

_I know._

Another reply, hastily written. Nothing comes of it when Sokka replies again, but for some reason he cherishes it more than he’d ever admit.

* * *

He tells Yue that he has one. That he hopes it’s her. That maybe, just maybe he could finally find the person he’s been trying to reach for so long, but she shakes her head sadly and tells him no, she doesn’t have the words he’s been writing.

Watching her ascend into the sky, giving her life for the moon, he wishes again that it had been her. That he could have had some time with his soulmate, the person who was supposed to complete him.

That night, he writes once again.

_I thought I’d found you, at last. But I was wrong._

And there’s an answer. A small one, written in a hidden section on the side of his finger.

_I’m sorry._

And Sokka lays awake, watching the moon and rereading the two small words he’d be gifted with.

* * *

In Ba Sing Se, writing becomes a solace for him. Nobody could see the notes under his wrappings, and even though he wasn’t getting answers, he wasn’t being told to stop either. He asks so many questions, writes down some of his best jokes, and does little doodles for the person on the other end.

He goes like this for some time with no answer, but one morning he finds an answer to one of his questions.

_My favourite colour is gold. I also like blue._

Sokka is ecstatic. Maybe his soulmate didn’t hate him after all?

So he keeps writing, and asking, and occasionally, when he’s really lucky, he gets a reply, and slowly, he pieces together the character of the person he’s writing.

 _Do you have any family?_ A harmless question, in his mind.

 _I have an uncle._ Says the mysterious person. There was a strange edge to the words, even in writing, like there was more to it than what they were saying.

Sokka is careful not to push now. He doesn’t want this gone. Not yet.

* * *

He writes again, when he thinks he’s doomed. It may be stupid, but a part of him wants to say something, to be remembered, somehow.

He takes out a pot of ink and dips his fingers in it, clumsily writing a message over his palm.

_Goodbye._

And then he watches as the same message appears on palm of the man next to him. Their eyes widen and meet across the small space. The two of them whisper one word, together.

“You?”

A question that they both know the answer to. A question they ask anyway, to be sure. A question with an answer that could change everything they know about the world.

And they look at each other, amongst the flames and the lightening, and they answer it together. Zuko grabs his hand, smearing ink on both their palms, and he pulls Sokka to his feet with a steely determination in his eye.

They would need to talk, to discuss and work out their next steps- Sokka was big on planning, after all, but for now, they charged into battle, side by side, with a word on their hands and hope in their hearts.


End file.
